Pastor makes passionate plea against racial justice system at Press Club Newsmaker

A pastor made a passionate plea at a National Press Club Newsmakers event Nov, 4 to end the unequal justice system that led to the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

The pastor, Jim Wallis, traveled to Ferguson on Oct. 13 to get a firsthand view of the situation and was arrested with many other faith leaders. In thinking about the shooting, Wallis emphasized that he is viewing the events as a father.

As a father, Wallis hopes that America can develop a justice system that treats everybody equally.

Wallis is president and founder of Sojourners, a Christian organization that promotes “faith in action for social justice." He is also an activist, journalist and author.

The Michael Brown shooting is a parable or a story with a very simple point, said Wallis. That point is, “In America black lives are worth less than white lives when it comes to criminal justice,” and that point “is very clear [and] painfully true,” he said.

The question then becomes, “How long will we accept this morally unacceptable reality?” Wallis asked.

Every black parent Wallis knows has the “talk” with their sons about how to act with a white police officer with a gun, or just a white man with a gun.

“Now here’s the problem," Wallis said. "I don’t know any white parents who have the talk with their sons.”

The Trayvon Martin shooting on Feb. 26, 2012, caused Wallis to think about his own strapping, athletic 16-year-old son, Luke. If Luke had been Florida at the same time and doing the same things as Trayvon, he knows that his son would not have been killed.

There have been too many “moments” where black men or teenagers have been shot, but where whites would not have suffered the same fate,” Wallis said.

To change this, we need to change the “moments” into a movement so that Brown will not have died in vain, Wallis said. To do this, Wallis insists that we need to repent as the term is used in the Bible. Repentance is not feeling guilty or sorry about something.

Repentance “means you are going in the wrong direction. You got to turn around and now go in a whole new direction. Radical turn around, that’s what the word means," Wallis said. "There has be an epiphany or a wake up call.”

Black church leaders should not have to accomplish this by themselves, Wallis said. Justice demands that everybody help change the system.

“It comes down to this," Wallis said. "If white Christians acted more Christian than white, black parents would have less to fear for their children. It is really as simple and basic to me as that.”